Damgalnuna, also known as Damkina, was a
Mesopotamian goddess
Deities in ancient Mesopotamia were almost exclusively anthropomorphic. They were thought to possess extraordinary powers and were often envisioned as being of tremendous physical size. The deities typically wore ''melam'', an ambiguous substan ...
regarded as the wife of the god
Enki. Her character is poorly defined in known sources, though it is known that like her husband she was associated with ritual purification and that she was believed to intercede with him on behalf of supplicants. Among the deities regarded as their children were
Nanshe and
Asalluhi
In Sumerian and Akkadian mythology Asaruludu is one of the Anunnaki. His name is also spelled Namshub, Asarludu, and Asarluhi (). The etymology and meaning of his name are unclear.
Asaruludu served as an exorcist in Sumerian religious rituals.. ...
. While the myth ''Enki and
Ninhursag
, deity_of=Mother goddess, goddess of fertility, mountains, and rulers
, image= Mesopotamian - Cylinder Seal - Walters 42564 - Impression.jpg
, caption= Akkadian cylinder seal impression depicting a vegetation goddess, possibly Ninhursag, sittin ...
'' treats her as interchangeable with the goddess metioned in its title, they were usually separate from each other. The cities of
Eridu
Eridu (Sumerian language, Sumerian: , NUN.KI/eridugki; Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''irîtu''; modern Arabic language, Arabic: Tell Abu Shahrain) is an archaeological site in southern Mesopotamia (modern Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq). Eridu was l ...
and
Malgium
Malgium (also Malkum) is an ancient Mesopotamian city identified as Tell Yassir which thrived especially in the Middle Bronze Age, ca. 2000 BC - 1600 BC. Located on the river Tigris, south of where the Diyala River branches off and upstream of ...
were regarded as Damgalnuna's cult center. She was also worshiped in other settlements, such as
Nippur,
Sippar
Sippar ( Sumerian: , Zimbir) was an ancient Near Eastern Sumerian and later Babylonian city on the east bank of the Euphrates river. Its '' tell'' is located at the site of modern Tell Abu Habbah near Yusufiyah in Iraq's Baghdad Governorate, som ...
and
Kalhu
Nimrud (; syr, ܢܢܡܪܕ ar, النمرود) is an ancient Assyrian city located in Iraq, south of the city of Mosul, and south of the village of Selamiyah ( ar, السلامية), in the Nineveh Plains in Upper Mesopotamia. It was a majo ...
, and possibly as early as in the third millennium BCE was incorporated into the
Hurrian pantheon
The Hurrian pantheon consisted of gods of varied backgrounds, some of them natively Hurrian, while others adopted from other pantheons, for example Eblaite and Mesopotamian. Like the other inhabitants of the Ancient Near East, Hurrians regarded th ...
. She appears in a number of myths, including the
Enūma Eliš
The ' (Akkadian Cuneiform: , also spelled "Enuma Elish") is the Babylonian creation myth (named after its opening words). It was recovered by English archaeologist Austen Henry Layard in 1849 (in fragmentary form) in the ruined Library of Ash ...
, though only a single composition, ''Damkina's Bond'', is focused on her.
Name, character and iconography
The theonym Damgalnuna can be translated as "the great wife of the prince," the "prince" implicitly being
Enki.
Joan Goodnick Westenholz
Joan Goodnick Westenholz (1 July 1943 – 2013) was an Assyriologist and the chief curator at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem. She held positions related to academic research at the Oriental Institute (University of Chicago), Harvard Univ ...
pointed out that the writing of her name with the
cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sh ...
sign NUN reflects her connection with the city of
Eridu
Eridu (Sumerian language, Sumerian: , NUN.KI/eridugki; Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''irîtu''; modern Arabic language, Arabic: Tell Abu Shahrain) is an archaeological site in southern Mesopotamia (modern Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq). Eridu was l ...
, as it was used as a logographic representation of its name. Shortened writings include ''
ddam-gal'' and possibly ''
ddam''. It is agreed that the second form of her name, Damkina, developed later. In late sources it could be spelled as Damkianna. This form is attested in
Neo-Babylonian
The Neo-Babylonian Empire or Second Babylonian Empire, historically known as the Chaldean Empire, was the last polity ruled by monarchs native to Mesopotamia. Beginning with the coronation of Nabopolassar as the King of Babylon in 626 BC and bein ...
letters found in
Uruk
Uruk, also known as Warka or Warkah, was an ancient city of Sumer (and later of Babylonia) situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates River on the dried-up ancient channel of the Euphrates east of modern Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq.Harm ...
, according to
Paul-Alain Beaulieu
Paul-Alain Beaulieu is a Canadian Assyriologist, a Professor of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto.
Beaulieu earned a master's degree from the Université de Montréal in 1980 under the supervision of Marcel Leib ...
originally sent from Eridu. Further variant spellings such as Damnun, Damnuna and Damgalana are also attested. The
Hurrian
The Hurrians (; cuneiform: ; transliteration: ''Ḫu-ur-ri''; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter) were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurrian language and lived in Anatolia, Syria and Northern ...
form of the name was Tapkina.
Damgalnuna's individual character was poorly defined beyond her spousal relation with Enki. She was believed to intercede with him on behalf of human supplicants, which has been compared to an analogous role attested for
Adad
Hadad ( uga, ), Haddad, Adad ( Akkadian: 𒀭𒅎 '' DIM'', pronounced as ''Adād''), or Iškur ( Sumerian) was the storm and rain god in the Canaanite and ancient Mesopotamian religions.
He was attested in Ebla as "Hadda" in c. 2500 BCE. ...
's wife
Shala
Shala (Šala) was a Mesopotamian goddess of weather and grain and the wife of the weather god Adad. It is assumed that she originated in northern Mesopotamia and that her name might have Hurrian origin. She was worshiped especially in Karkar a ...
,
Shamash's wife
Aya,
Ishum
Ishum (Išum; possibly the masculine form of Akkadian ''išātum'', "fire") was a Mesopotamian god of Akkadian origin. He is best attested as a divine night watchman, tasked with protecting houses at night, but he was also associated with vario ...
's wife
Ninmug
Ninmug or Ninmuga was a Mesopotamian goddess. She was associated with artisanship, especially with metalworking, as evidenced by her epithet ''tibira kalamma'', "metalworker of the land." She could also be regarded as a goddess of birth and assist ...
or
Inanna's attendant
Ninshubur
Ninshubur (; Ninšubur, "Lady of Subartu" or "Lady of servants"), also spelled Ninšubura, was a Mesopotamian goddess whose primary role was that of the ''sukkal'' (divine vizier) of the goddess Inanna. While it is agreed that in this context N ...
. Like Enki, Damgalnuna could be associated with exorcisms and
ritual purification
Ritual purification is the ritual prescribed by a religion by which a person is considered to be free of ''uncleanliness'', especially prior to the worship of a deity, and ritual purity is a state of ritual cleanliness. Ritual purification may ...
. In incantations, she could be invoked against demons.
It has been proposed that
cylinder seal
A cylinder seal is a small round cylinder, typically about one inch (2 to 3 cm) in length, engraved with written characters or figurative scenes or both, used in ancient times to roll an impression onto a two-dimensional surface, generally ...
depictions of a goddess accompanied by Enki's symbolic hybrids, the
fish man and the fish goat, on cylinder seals who can be identified as Damgalnuna. Julia M. Asher-Greve points out that sometimes she appears in the same scenes on them as Enki. It has also been suggested that lions might have been her symbolic animals.
In
Mesopotamian astronomy
Babylonian astronomy was the study or recording of celestial objects during the early history of Mesopotamia.
Babylonian astronomy seemed to have focused on a select group of stars and constellations known as Ziqpu stars. These constellations m ...
, Damgalnuna was identified with the
constellation Wagon of Heaven, corresponding to
Ursa Minor
Ursa Minor (Latin: 'Lesser Bear', contrasting with Ursa Major), also known as the Little Bear, is a constellation located in the far northern sky. As with the Great Bear, the tail of the Little Bear may also be seen as the handle of a ladle, ...
.
Associations with other deities
Damgalnuna was the wife of
Enki (Ea). In the myth ''Enki and
Ninhursag
, deity_of=Mother goddess, goddess of fertility, mountains, and rulers
, image= Mesopotamian - Cylinder Seal - Walters 42564 - Impression.jpg
, caption= Akkadian cylinder seal impression depicting a vegetation goddess, possibly Ninhursag, sittin ...
'', she and the eponymous goddess are treated as the same deity. However, Dina Katz points out that they were usually separate, and Ninhursag's husband was
Šulpae
Šulpae was a Mesopotamian god. Much about his role in Mesopotamian religion remains uncertain, though it is agreed he was an astral deity associated with the planet Jupiter and that he could be linked to specific diseases, especially ''bennu''. H ...
. Deities considered to be children of Enki and Damgalnuna include
Nanshe,
Asalluhi
In Sumerian and Akkadian mythology Asaruludu is one of the Anunnaki. His name is also spelled Namshub, Asarludu, and Asarluhi (). The etymology and meaning of his name are unclear.
Asaruludu served as an exorcist in Sumerian religious rituals.. ...
,
Marduk and
Enbilulu
Enbilulu ( sux, ) was a Mesopotamian god associated with irrigation, and by extension with both canals and rivers. The origin of his name is unknown, and there is no agreement among experts in which way he was related to the similarly named dei ...
.
In a variant of the
Weidner god list
Weidner god list is the conventional name of one of the known ancient Mesopotamian lists of deities, originally compiled by ancient scribes in the late third millennium BCE, with the oldest known copy dated to the Ur III or Isin-Larsa period. Fur ...
, Damgalnuna is equated with Kiša, the wife of the river god
Idlurugu
Idlurugu ( Sumerian: ''i7-lú-ru-gú'', also read Ilurugu) or Id (dÍD) was a Mesopotamian god regarded as both a river deity and a divine judge. He was the personification of a type of trial by ordeal, which shared its name with him.
Idlurugu ...
. An
Emesal
Sumerian is the language of ancient Sumer. It is one of the oldest attested languages, dating back to at least 3000 BC. It is accepted to be a local language isolate and to have been spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, in the area that is modern-day ...
vocabulary apparently mistakes her and her husband for the primordial deities
Enki and Ninki. Despite their similar names, the two Enkis were not identical. Multiple alternate names are assigned to Damgalnuna in the god list ''
An = Anum
''An = Anum'', also known as the Great God List, is the longest preserved Mesopotamian god list, a type of lexical list cataloging the deities worshiped in the Ancient Near East, chiefly in modern Iraq. While god lists are already known from the ...
'' (tablet II, lines 173-184), including
Ningikuga
Ningikuga was a Mesopotamian goddess. Her name can be explained as ''nin-gi-kug-a(k)'', "lady of the pure reed".
A tradition according to which Ningikuga was a wife of Enki is known. In the Old Babylonian ''An = Anum'' forerunner she occurs in his ...
and
Ninti
Ninti ( sux, 𒀭𒎏𒋾; "mistress of life") was a Mesopotamian goddess worshiped in Lagash. She was regarded as the mother of Ninkasi. She also appears in the myth ''Enki and Ninhursag'' as one of the deities meant to soothe the eponymous god's ...
. It has been argued that the latter name is also used to refer to her in the ''Hymn to
Ninkasi
Ninkasi was the Mesopotamian goddess of beer and brewing. It is possible that in the first millennium BCE she was known under the variant name Kurunnītu, derived from a term referring to a type of high quality beer. She was associated with both ...
'', where this goddess is the mother of the eponymous beer deity. According to Antoine Cavigneaux and Manfred Krebernik, Ningikuga as a name of a spouse of Enki is to be distinguished with the use of this name to refer to the mother of
Ningal
Ningal ( Sumerian: "Great Queen"), also known as Nikkal in Akkadian, was a Mesopotamian goddess of Sumerian origin regarded as the wife of the moon god, Nanna/Sin. She was particularly closely associated with his main cult centers, Ur and Harran ...
or to Ningal herself.
The deities Ḫasīsu and Uznu, "wisdom" and "ear," were considered Damgalnuna;s divine attendants (
sukkals).
Worship
The worship of Damgalnuna is attested in all periods of
history of ancient Mesopotamia
The history of Mesopotamia ranges from the earliest human occupation in the Paleolithic period up to Late antiquity. This history is pieced together from evidence retrieved from archaeological excavations and, after the introduction of writing i ...
, though the scope of her
cult gradually declined. She already appears in the
Early Dynastic ''zame'' hymns. According to this source, her cult center was
Eridu
Eridu (Sumerian language, Sumerian: , NUN.KI/eridugki; Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''irîtu''; modern Arabic language, Arabic: Tell Abu Shahrain) is an archaeological site in southern Mesopotamia (modern Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq). Eridu was l ...
. A first millennium BCE hymn to
Nanaya
Nanaya ( Sumerian , DNA.NA.A; also transcribed as "Nanāy", "Nanaja", "Nanāja", '"Nanāya", or "Nanai"; antiquated transcription: "Nanâ"; in Greek: ''Ναναια'' or ''Νανα''; Aramaic: ''ננױננאױ;'' Syriac: ܢܢܝ) was a Mesopo ...
which lists various city goddesses also preserves information about her association with this city, though it also addresses her as the "Queen of Kullaba."
Another city considered to be Damgalnuna's cult center was
Malgium
Malgium (also Malkum) is an ancient Mesopotamian city identified as Tell Yassir which thrived especially in the Middle Bronze Age, ca. 2000 BC - 1600 BC. Located on the river Tigris, south of where the Diyala River branches off and upstream of ...
, located to the south of
Eshnunna
Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar in Diyala Governorate, Iraq) was an ancient Sumerian (and later Akkadian) city and city-state in central Mesopotamia 12.6 miles northwest of Tell Agrab and 15 miles northwest of Tell Ishchali. Although situated in th ...
. Both of her names, Damgalnuna and Damkina, appear in texts from this city. She is listed as one of its deities in the ''
Code of Hammurabi''. Two of its rulers, Takil-ilišu and Ipiq-Ishtar, referred to themselves as appointed to their position by her and Ea. The
temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
of the pair located in this city might have been the Enamtila, "house of life," mentioned in an inscription of Takil-ilišu.
A temple dedicated to Damgalnuna also existed in
Nippur. It was built by
Shulgi
Shulgi ( dŠulgi, formerly read as Dungi) of Ur was the second king of the Third Dynasty of Ur. He reigned for 48 years, from c. 2094 – c. 2046 BC (Middle Chronology) or possibly c. 2030 – 1982 BC (Short Chronology). His accomplishme ...
. A
metrological
Metrology is the scientific study of measurement. It establishes a common understanding of units, crucial in linking human activities. Modern metrology has its roots in the French Revolution's political motivation to standardise units in Fra ...
text from the
Middle Babylonian period also attests the existence of a house of worship which she shared with her husband, treated as separate from the former by
Andrew R. George.
On
Old Babylonian
Old Babylonian may refer to:
*the period of the First Babylonian dynasty (20th to 16th centuries BC)
*the historical stage of the Akkadian language
Akkadian (, Akkadian: )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Camb ...
seals from
Sippar
Sippar ( Sumerian: , Zimbir) was an ancient Near Eastern Sumerian and later Babylonian city on the east bank of the Euphrates river. Its '' tell'' is located at the site of modern Tell Abu Habbah near Yusufiyah in Iraq's Baghdad Governorate, som ...
, Damgalnuna and Enki are one of the three most commonly invoked divine couples, though they appear less frequently than
Shamash and
Aya or
Adad
Hadad ( uga, ), Haddad, Adad ( Akkadian: 𒀭𒅎 '' DIM'', pronounced as ''Adād''), or Iškur ( Sumerian) was the storm and rain god in the Canaanite and ancient Mesopotamian religions.
He was attested in Ebla as "Hadda" in c. 2500 BCE. ...
and
Shala
Shala (Šala) was a Mesopotamian goddess of weather and grain and the wife of the weather god Adad. It is assumed that she originated in northern Mesopotamia and that her name might have Hurrian origin. She was worshiped especially in Karkar a ...
. One of such objects, which belonged to a certain Enkimansum, has been inscribed with the formula "servant of Enki and Damgalnuna." They had a sanctuary in Sippar-Amnanum inside of the temple complex of
Annunitum
Annunitum () or Anunītu was a Mesopotamian goddess of war. While initially she functioned as an epithet of Ishtar (Sumerian Inanna), she started to develop into a separate deity in the final years of the Sargonic period and through the Ur III per ...
. It is known from a document stating that a number of officials, including the ''sanga'' priest of Annunitum, were responsible for inspecting its property after a theft occurred.
An inscription with
Ashurnasirpal II indicates that Damgalnuna also shared a temple with her husband in
Kalhu
Nimrud (; syr, ܢܢܡܪܕ ar, النمرود) is an ancient Assyrian city located in Iraq, south of the city of Mosul, and south of the village of Selamiyah ( ar, السلامية), in the Nineveh Plains in Upper Mesopotamia. It was a majo ...
.
Hurrian reception
Damgalnuna was incorporated into
Hurrian religion, where she similarly fulfilled the role of Ea's wife. According to Piotr Taracha, it is possible the transfer of her cult occurred in the third millennium BCE already. She is mentioned in the treaty between
Šattiwaza and
Šuppiluliuma I
Suppiluliuma I () or Suppiluliumas I () was king of the Hittites (r. c. 1344–1322 BC ( short chronology)). He achieved fame as a great warrior and statesman, successfully challenging the then-dominant Egyptian Empire for control of the lands bet ...
, in which she appears near the end of the list of divine witnesses, between
Belet-ekalli
Ninegal (also spelled Ninegalla) or Belat Ekalli (Belet-ekalli) was a Mesopotamian goddess associated with palaces. Both her Sumerian and Akkadian name mean "lady of the palace."
From Mesopotamia the worship of Ninegal spread to Elam in the e ...
and
Ishara
Ishara (Išḫara) was the tutelary goddess of the ancient Syrian city of Ebla. The origin of her name is unknown. Both Hurrian and West Semitic etymologies have been proposed, but they found no broad support and today it is often assumed that ...
. She is among the deities depicted in the
Yazılıkaya
:'' Yazılıkaya, Eskişehir, also called Midas City, is a village with Phrygian ruins.''
Yazılıkaya ( tr, Inscribed rock) was a sanctuary of Hattusa, the capital city of the Hittite Empire, today in the Çorum Province, Turkey. Rock reliefs ar ...
sanctuary, where she appears in a procession of goddesses, between
Shalash
Shalash (Šalaš) was a Syrian goddess best known as the wife of Dagan, the head of the pantheon of the middle Euphrates area. She was already worshiped in Ebla and Tuttul in the third millennium BCE, and later her cult is attested in Mari as w ...
and
Nikkal
Nikkal (logographically dNIN.GAL, alphabetically 𐎐𐎋𐎍 ''nkl'') or Nikkal-wa-Ib (''nkl wib'') was a goddess worshiped in various areas of the ancient Near East west of Mesopotamia. She was derived from the Sumerian Ningal, and like her fo ...
. She was also worshiped alongside other
Hurrian deities
The Hurrian pantheon consisted of gods of varied backgrounds, some of them natively Hurrian, while others adopted from other pantheons, for example Eblaite and Mesopotamian. Like the other inhabitants of the Ancient Near East, Hurrians regarded th ...
in the
Hittite capital,
Hattusa
Hattusa (also Ḫattuša or Hattusas ; Hittite: URU''Ḫa-at-tu-ša'', Turkish: Hattuşaş , Hattic: Hattush) was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age. Its ruins lie near modern Boğazkale, Turkey, within the great loop of ...
, and in
Nerik
Nerik ( Hittite: ''Nerik(ka)''"Nerik(ka)." ''Reallexikon der Assyriologie.'') was a Bronze Age settlement to the north of the Hittite capitals Hattusa and Sapinuwa, probably in the Pontic region. Since 2005–2009, the site of Nerik has been id ...
.
Mythology
Only a single myth in which Damgalnuna plays a central role is known. She appears in it under the name Damkianna, though it has been suggested that in this context it might refer to
Zarpanit
Sarpanit (alternately Sarpanitu, Ṣarpanitu, Zarpanit, Zirpanet, Zerpanitum, Zerbanitu, or Zirbanit) was the consort of Marduk, the main god of Babylon, and a goddess of birth. She was already attested as the wife of Marduk before his ascension ...
. The text is known from two copies, one
Neo-Assyrian
The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history and the final and greatest phase of Assyria as an independent state. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew t ...
and another
Neo-Babylonian
The Neo-Babylonian Empire or Second Babylonian Empire, historically known as the Chaldean Empire, was the last polity ruled by monarchs native to Mesopotamia. Beginning with the coronation of Nabopolassar as the King of Babylon in 626 BC and bein ...
or later. Two translations have been published so far, one by Takayoshi Oshima and another by
Wilfred G. Lambert, who gave it the title ''Damkina's Bond''. Based on the fact that
Marduk is already presented as a king of the gods, but at the same time
Nabu
Nabu ( akk, cuneiform: 𒀭𒀝 Nabû syr, ܢܵܒܼܘܼ\ܢܒܼܘܿ\ܢܵܒܼܘܿ Nāvū or Nvō or Nāvō) is the ancient Mesopotamian patron god of literacy, the rational arts, scribes, and wisdom.
Etymology and meaning
The Akkadian "nab ...
is his scribe rather than son, the latter author assumed that it was originally composed under the rule of either the
Kassite
The Kassites () were people of the ancient Near East, who controlled Babylonia after the fall of the Old Babylonian Empire c. 1531 BC and until c. 1155 BC (short chronology).
They gained control of Babylonia after the Hittite sack of Babylon ...
or
Isin II
The king of Babylon ( Akkadian: ''šakkanakki Bābili'', later also ''šar Bābili'') was the ruler of the ancient Mesopotamian city of Babylon and its kingdom, Babylonia, which existed as an independent realm from the 19th century BC to its fall ...
dynasty. The former concludes it cannot be earlier than the reign of
Nebuchadnezzar I
Nebuchadnezzar I or Nebuchadrezzar I (), reigned 1121–1100 BC, was the fourth king of the Second Dynasty of Isin and Fourth Dynasty of Babylon. He ruled for 22 years according to the ''Babylonian King List C'', and was the most prominent monarc ...
. Based on the available evidence for the association between Damgalnuna and
Malgium
Malgium (also Malkum) is an ancient Mesopotamian city identified as Tell Yassir which thrived especially in the Middle Bronze Age, ca. 2000 BC - 1600 BC. Located on the river Tigris, south of where the Diyala River branches off and upstream of ...
, Lambert suggested it originated in this city. The myth focuses on a conflict between the pantheons of
Babylon and
Nippur, led respectively by Marduk and
Enlil, though its details are uncertain. The forces of Nippur lose, and the conflict is eventually resolved through Damgalnuna's intervention, prompted by a message about the battle delivered to her by Neretagmil, the
sukkal of the god
Nāru. Lambert argued that to that end, she released an object referred to as a "bond" (''il-let-sa'') in his translation, the nature of which is left unstated but which according to hi was something possible to display, perhaps a clay tablet. Oshima instead refers to it as a "burden" and concludes that it might have been some sort of plague or natural disaster. The colophon of the Neo-Babylonian copy states that the contents of the tablet were a secret and revealing them to anyone from outside its intended audience of ancient scholars was considered a
taboo
A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
of Marduk.
Damgalnuna appears in ''
Enūma Eliš
The ' (Akkadian Cuneiform: , also spelled "Enuma Elish") is the Babylonian creation myth (named after its opening words). It was recovered by English archaeologist Austen Henry Layard in 1849 (in fragmentary form) in the ruined Library of Ash ...
'' as Marduk's mother. However, the text provides her with no genealogy, and no account of her birth is included. The form of her name used in this text is Damkina.
According to Nathan Wasserman, one of the inscriptions of king Ipiq-Ishtar of Malgium might contain a reference to a
flood myth involving Ea (Enki) and Damkina (Damgalnuna). It states that when an unspecified disaster was about to befall this city, Ea instructed his wife to save it by "insuring long dynastic kingship," which according to Raphael Kutscher should be understood as an euphemism for placing an usurper on the throne.
A hymn dedicated to Damgalnuna, identified in a subscript as a ''šir-šag-ḫula'' ("song of a joyful heart"), is also known. It focuses on her spousal relation to Enki.
References
Bibliography
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{{refend
External links
A hymn to Damgalnunain the
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL) was a project that provides an online digital library of texts and translations of Sumerian literature.
This project's website contains "Sumerian text, English prose translation and bibl ...
Mesopotamian goddesses
Hurrian deities
Characters in the Enūma Eliš